Weddings at I.P.C.

You must be a member of Independent Presbyterian Church to be married here. For our members, we have a booklet available on the topic at our bookshop; feel free to come by and pick it up Monday through Friday at the church office.

There are a number of reasons why our Session does not allow non-member weddings. It is our conviction that couples ought to marry in the church to which they are committed. From that church they ought to receive pastoral counsel and oversight. Once married, it is from that church that they ought to continue to receive oversight and care. In other words, we believe that we are only able to give proper care and attention to those who will continue as members of our church. Our counsel to those who are not members of our church is to marry where they plan to become members, and receive from there the oversight and care that they need.

Marriage is a big decision. Marriage commitments are trivialized by the ease with which divorces take place in our day. We are attempting to make marital disaster less likely by ensuring that couples marrying get the pastoral care they need before and after they marry. Our way of doing so is to encourage couples to marry in the church in which they belong, and that they be married by their own pastors.